The recent decision by Japanese eroge studio Minori to close off its site to the outside world under the pretense of “defending our culture” has been clarified with a fuller explanation, which can be read below:

minori official website.
This website cannot be browsed excluding Japan.

Some foreigners seem to be having an antipathy against EROGE.
Therefore, We prohibited the access from foreign countries, to defend our culture.
Sorry for you of the fan that lives in a foreign country.

minori Inc.

To which has been added some carping about how Japanese couldn’t possibly oppose their own politicians, and need foreigners to do it for them:

Why minori blocking foreign accesses?

We are little perplexing now because we received a lot of response about this issue from foreign people.

Now we will tell you the short detail about the reason why blocking you to this website, because of we, all Japanese EROGE makers were facing at the problem, the crisis of “Freedom of speech”.

Currently, The bill that allows to limiting the content (It is censorship. Isn’t it?) to all EROGEs is being discussed in the Diet because intellectuals and politicians said “Japanese EROGE were being problem and troubled with the foreign country. Therefore we should make EROGE hidden away from foreign country, and also its content should be limited and censored”.

Okay, now we trusted the word what they said at once. So we blocked you to make stay away from the trouble.

Otherwise, you just can talk your idea about this issue at your blog or other media to inform the existance of this problem to the public. It would be very helpful for us.

If you do so, we might be able to recover the “Freedom of speech” and the barricade lying in between us would be taken away.

Please help us.

We hope this separation would be only for short moment.

Sincerely.

Of course, it is rather naïve to think that Japanese politicians, particularly the ardently feminist ones, are doing anything but seizing upon convenient foreign outcry in order to use it as a rhetorical appeal, so as to push their own agenda of censorship, and even more naïve to think that they will take any notice of non-voting foreigners when even their own constituents fail to oppose them.

If foreigners have such power over Japan, it seems strange endless foreign histrionics about the evils of whaling have failed to get it banned…

It also seems improbable that the Japanese mass media will be interested in “foreign anime fan outcry over Japanese censorship,” when it can instead manufacture the sensational outcry against “rape games in our shops!”

The reaction against the move internationally has been less than positive, but predictably the online reaction in Japan has been delightedly xenophobic: we hear almost unanimously that “This can’t be helped”, “Damn foreigners are attacking our culture!”, “They are all just dirty pirates anyway!”, and “All eroge makers should ban foreigners!”

Many joyously call for “eroge sakoku”, sakoku, “closed country”, being the term for the long centuries of isolation the nation endured due to Shogunate paranoia about foreign influences.

Any suggestion that responsibility for these outrageous restrictions on freedom of expression lie with wicked foreigners is of course facile scapegoating, as any reference to the following three facts will attest:

It seems many Japanese being subjected to this oppressive ban would rather blame foreigners than actually make any effort to oppose the ban themselves, a position which it is hard to be sympathetic to.

For all intents and purposes, that explanation of theirs is not only naive but rather hilarious and of course sad; putting aside the engrish issue.
Hilarity aside, the Japanese always have disliked foreigners, haven't they? It must be in their blood by now.

Part of their culture is to be "normal", to not stand out. They normally don't stand up and voice their opinions as much as the US does. They would have to band together before they would say something against this because of the stigma of watching porn and what they would likely view as pedophilia. I see it in the group of Japanese I hang out with.

freedom of speech works as long as you're just voicing out what you think, once you start telling other people what to do it becomes tyranny. that said, people keep shoving tyrannical doctrines on how to live our lives in the name of liberty. how is that freedom?

That doesn't have to do with freedom of speech. Freedom of speech means you have a right to say what you want to say. It doesn't mean anyone has to listen to you or do what you say. Freedom of speech also allows people being told what to do to tell that person to stfu. It all should work out perfectly fine, if you ask me.

Homosexuality is a sexual preference, one that is argued to be intrinsic to the being of the person and cannot be changed willingly (so they say).

Feminism is more along the lines of a political alignment. It is not something you are born into being, but are logically convinced is something of being right. You may be swayed into various degrees of this feminism, sex-positive, radicalism, (others).

By discrimination, I thought you meant something that can be described as an unlawful negative attitude towards such people. As such, in the U.S. you cannot discriminate on sexual preference, but I don't believe the same applies to feminism preferences. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discrimination#Employment_discrimination)

Anyway, even if it's wrong and stupid for them to block foreign access, we still should use of our "international pressure" to help them (and by extense, ourselves).

Also:

- Stop blaming the feminists for this. It is illogical. Sex-negative feminists may have been used as pretext, but we should blame the weak Japanese otaku, and the Japanese media + Japanese politicians.

- Stop calling Minori racist. Their actions weren't motivated by prejudice against a race. Learn the word you want to use, before using it.

- Stop calling the Japanese people racist if you have never lived there.

- Stop assuming every country lives with the notions of race.

- Stop insulting the Japanese people and all feminists just because of your illogical hate. Direct it at sex-negative radical feminists and Japanese politicians.

- Stop with all the hate. It is weak to be controlled by such emotions to the point of not being able to have common sense and think logically.

- DO something. The blame is really on ourselves for not doing anything besides complaining illogically.

- Send e-mails.

- BE POLITE. If you're going to e-mail Minori, Japanese politicians or Japanese people, be polite. You're just discrediting our cause for freedom of speech, otherwise.

Humbly, I think these are the best options, according to my common sense. Otherwise people posting in Sankaku just seem a bunch of mysoginist hooligans, ignorant rednecks, racist against the Japanese, etc.

1) Feminists were definitely the people who ignited this latest little flap. There might be a substantial force already there anyway, but without them it won't have reached criticality, at least not this time, maybe never.

2) The "weak" otaku and politicians. Actually, if they are weak, a major reason is that we are all actually steeped into a certain amount of feminist propaganda when it comes to porn, into associating it as somehow wrong - even when there is no utilitarian substanitation for that concept. This makes it difficult for us to stand up.

Feminist: "Ban porn!"
You: "Free speech!"
Feminist: "Even for porn?"
You: "Uh" (you want to answer, but you are held back by that indoctrination. Even if you break your indoctrination, you are very conscious that everyone ELSE is indoctrinated similarly, and not many of them has thought about the issue enough to have a chance of breaking out. In their mind-controlled state, nothing you say will convince them and will only make you look bad, and quite frankly, porn isn't quite worth risking your social position for).
Feminist: "I win."

A major contribution to this whole indoctrination program, of course, is the entire feminism movement. So, are they really not to blame, either tactically or strategically, for our current dire straits?

Feh. Feminists. They are reactionaries, like Satanists. Without Christianity, Satanists are just a bunch of spoiled petulant children who don't want to take responsibility for doing what they want.

Feminism can't exist without reacting to what is perceived as a male chauvinist attitude. That is why it's hard to take it seriously. Feminism can't stand by itself. That is why it has to be invented by people in universities talking about "Mother Goddess" and all that bullshit.

So they come across patriarchal Japan and think they can "save" it in their bigoted manner by attacking the harmless hobbies of those who are more attracted to the dimensionally challenged.

It is inevitable when part of Group A does something, the whole of A gets somewhat implicated. Rapelay, for example, became all of the rape game genre, which in turn became all of eroge, which caused this farce. Similar process.

Given this, shouldn't those feminists that are not part of this segment then at least say something, even if only on blogs like this, to preserve their reputation?

One possible explanation for why not is that there are only covert and overt on this matter when it comes to feminists. How many feminists are willing to come out and actually say banning rape games is WRONG?

I love how people pretending to be intelligent don't realize there is not an unified single type of feminism, and that typical feminism aims for the equality of men and women and has always fought for valorous causes.

Generalizing "feminism" and feminists is pretty much the same as doing it with "politics". You just sound like an angry ignorant that way.

Feminism is not an unified single movement, it's simply a portmanteau for different ideological movements fighting for what they believe to be the best to women. It has nothing to do with female supremacy or censorship. It has nothing to do with a specific ideology/cause/objective/whatever. It's a word englobing various different movements.

if you're going to take the time to say it all like that then you might as well just say that everyone hates everyone else. in fact everyone on earth is a misanthropist. Now doesn't that sound silly? And yet it's less sillier than what you said.

But I guess most people just like to take the easy route and generalize entire peoples.

People, Arte only selected a few comments from the Japanese public response, those aren't all of the comments! Not all Japanese hate foreigners.

I find it cute that Sankaku seems very interested to hold foreigners innocent for this whole farce.

It is a bit like saying that any Soviet officer that had his division disbanded under CFE should blame solely Gorbachev (since he buckled to assymetrical reductions) and the Soviet people (especially those silly instituniks who argue for the reductions), and the West had no part to play in all that.

Strategically speaking, for a long time now, a very significant fraction of foreigners have been applying pressure against eroge.

What seems to be happening in Japan right up until recently is a balance of power between the "Protect the Children" (along w/ the "Let's buckle to the foreigners") clan and the "Freedom of Speech" clan (not many people high up want to admit they like eroge) means a maintenance of the Status Quo.

Thanks to a certain idiot Gaijin and a certain idiot Gaijin group, this delicate balance of power has been disrupted for a time. During this time, eroge was forced towards near extinction.

How are foreigners completely innocent of this? It may be a few foreigners, but as it turned out, they were the foreigners that counted...

Whaling is larger than eroge and has withstood the Western assaults so far. But it may also end in a similar way - some particularly grotesque pictures make it to the hands of Greenpeace. Greenpeace raises especially loud ruckus and it reaches Japan. If the Balance of Power is even enough, it is possible for such an event to destabilize things (at least briefly) and cause the end of whaling. Would foreigners then not be guilty for ending whaling in Japan?

EOCS, I say again. Blaming them for buckling without being in a position to fully envision the correlation of forces against them is a bit subjective, don't you think? If you see an army retreating at full speed, one generally presumes that a really strong (relatively) enemy is chasing them, not that they are running from nothing.

For asking us for help. Really, I'm sure they are doing what they figure they can on their fronts. They probably know we aren't worth very much, but if they are doing everything they can, what more can they do to increase the odds in their favor, even by 0.1%, but by asking us to write letters?

Yeah, that's something I don't understand. Whaling... regardless of what people say, the Japanese like their whale. And it seems that it ain't changing soon. (And I think Sea Shepherd is a pirate ship.)

So what about Eroge. I mean, this culture of shame is strangely present in a traditionally non-Judeo-Christian country. Whereas in the West, good lord. Good example is the state of California, mostly liberal and democrats, but they legislated a bill against same-sex marriage. Everyone went "huuuh??"

Particularly at "Works of Art" They must be censored to see how sad and silly a ban on freedom of expression is.

We should distribute pamphlets, Art books that have mosaics. Michelangelo's David must have mosaic censor.

Anatomy books must have mosaic censor.

In Akihabara, let there be a movement, a protest that has maids and otaku wearing black robes, ala Islamic Republic style. Let otaku dress up as moral police in Uyoku vans. Suppress all freedom of expression in the city. Sow discontent. Provoke the masses to action.

This is the time for Otaku to prove themselves. Be like Otoya Yamaguchi. For crying out loud, Tsutomu Miyazaki or, even Tomohiro Kato. Those batshit crazy people is what Japan needs. How long with a country be apathetic to their freedoms being taken away?

Acts of terrorism is probably the only way to provoke reaction from an otherwise apathetic bourgeoisie with disposable income.

People in Iran risked being killed and some did die for their votes and freedom of expression. They make me proud.

Don't talk about going terrorist and then mention what happened in Iran in the next sentence. What the Iranians are doing is not terrorism, they're peacefully protesting and some are getting killed for it. I'm all for that. Dieing in the name of freedom is good, especially when you never harmed anyone trying to get that freedom. Such people are true martyrs, not like those terrorists and religious extremists. Any sort of cheap scare tactic doesn't work. You have to raise your voice until it's heard and understood by the opposition.

Sir, I am not sure if anyone has told you this. But you are freaking nut! No matter how badly you want to make your point, harming innocent people isn't the way to go. Not to mention atrocious acts will only reinforce the stereotype that otaku are the menace of society. I believe something non-violent would be better to serve our cause.

Think of it as a self-fulfilling prophecy. Paint otaku a certain way, will they? Destroy the reason to be, will they?? Some just want to be left alone. But noooo. They want to enjoy the last sanctuary they have from this craaaazy world of ours. But noooo. Someone has to trample this little imaginary land where one doesn't have to wake up and go to work and with that intense urge to slit someone's throat. That annoying superior who condescends. That coworker who does not care at all. Imagine. Who is to blame? Myself, or everyone? Either suicide, or anarchy. Kill oneself, or make someone bleed and jump with joy as they lay dying for all the imagined wrongs they have done. Which one gives a better chance of survival, if death is inescapable?

....This is probably a common sentiment that people tend to avoid. Not only in Japan, of course. Sometimes they lie to themselves that they don't want that to happen.

Are you fucking crazy to even joke about going all terrorist? Is the taliban and other muslim extremists getting anywhere with that? Have they gained anything? Yeah, I thought so. Look back on history and look at the ways that worked, for the sake of sane thought! I don't know why people are so quick to bring up wars as an answer instead of things like non-violence and what people like martin luther king and gandhi did and succeeded with.

I honestly don't know what we can do since we're on the shortest end of the stick no matter which way you put it. The way society is now, especially with all of the "pedophile" fears, if any one of us went to the public and told them what our interests are in any intelligent fashion we'd be hearing people calling for out deaths. Maybe we just need to wait for a more liberal and open government in Japan.

If the Japanese want to protest against this situation is up to them.If the Ero-Game Industry wants to fight for there rights they need to go out and take a chances talk to gamers who play there games and ask for there support.

This really sucks, but if this issue receives more coverage it just sucks even more because mainstream societies of both West and Japan will react negatively to eroge. Even if every Western eroge fan sent letters of dissent it'll probably have little to no impact because we're not representing mainstream opinion in the West. So I don't know how this is going to go.

And I'm left to wonder how is it possible that supposedly serious companies won't have the decency of hiring or at least freelancing a competent translator. Engrish is funny in casual contexts. In serious communication looks just shameful.

this is very bad for anyone associated with anime and manga as now we are being called women hating child molesting otakus, this could really turn into something huge if this continues, the ball is already rolling too fast, someone needs to stop it before it becomes an avalanche

At the moment in Japan there is a law in deliberation which in addition to banning the simple possession of child pornography is considering the validity of including fictional works such as anime, manga and games in that restriction. At present there is a great difference between the governing parties plan and the democratic parties plan. Under the governing parties plan restrictions on the simple possession of fictional works and child pornography is being stipulated. It is anticipated that the amendment conference for this law will take place in the Japanese National Diet from the 6th (Japan time).

I believe that the "Objection to the research clauses for the restriction of fictional works such as anime in the governing parties bill" "Objection to the ban on simple possession in the governing parties bill" will become important points. Focusing on these points I think that mails of a composed nature should be sent.

First of all,it is important to express to Japans democratic party not to compromise on this matter. Within the democratic party, the following 3 persons are involved in and have seized control off in regards to the child pornography law reform problems

Regarding how to write your mail,
In order to influence the Liberal Democratic Party and members of the Diet via letter, the following link will be very useful towards all political parties, by all means please use it as a reference.
http://madokatatsuya.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!62D9164E3AB7B024!727.entry
---

Translators Note: Yet that reference page is in Japanese lol (anyway the minimum that needs to be included is as follows)

* Name, Address, Electoral district (this is important)
* Write clearing specifying in itemized form what the candidates / parliamentarians need to understand and do about the issue in order to get your vote.
* If possible attach some reference data.
* It may not necessarily have to be a handwritten letter however have common sense.

(In other words, as gaijins who do not hold any voting power in Japan, what our voice needs to represent is a synchronized front of logical reason which can be used as justification and vindication for the ban-opposition factions while placing the necessary pressure on the ban-approval factions called 'constitutionalism'.)

To those of you saying this has nothing to do with the minori's ban, ( ゜д゜)σ "Objection!"
This has everything to do with it, this is the starting point of real legal restrictions (not just some mere voluntary regulation by an ethics committee).

This. This is the tip of the iceberg.

"First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out - because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me - and there was no one left to speak out for me." -Martin Niemoller